UNSY 501 - Application of Unmanned Systems by Scott Cowan

Unmanned Aerospace Systems With the popularity and success of both the Air Force’s Predator B and the Army’s’ Gray Eagle, Remotely Powered Aircraft (RPA), it was just a matter of time before other agencies entered in to the industry. And the small budget United States Coast Guard was no acceptation. The U.S. Coast Guard is the leading law enforcement agency on the high seas and each year the organization conducts thousands of search and rescue and law enforcement missions. For over forty years the Coast Guard has utilized helicopters on the back of Coast Guard cutters to carry out those missions. Now, the Coast Guard has a new weapon in its arsenal, the Scan Eagle.   ScanEagle The ScanEagle manufactured by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, is a highly capable and effective Medium-Range unmanned aircraft system (MR-UAS) that effectively meets the Cast Guard mission. One requirement the Coast Guard was looking for was the ability to have a sUAS be launched from a Coast Guard Cu...

3.4 – Research Blog 2 – Unmanned Maritime Systems   Today, the Unmanned Systems world is largely based, or at least largely recognized, as the industry that includes “drones” that fly in the air like the MQ-9, manufactured by General Atomics (Military, n.d.), or drones from Amazon that can deliver our all-important packages to your home (Shaban, 2018). But now there is a large focus being put on Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) both for the military and in the civilian sector. The U.S. Navy is now ramping up operations to provide these type of UMV’s and has several projects that are being developed for the to the larges seagoing service in the world. According to Eckstein, 2017, key programs that he Navy ids working on include “Kingfish”, “Snakehead” and “ADARO” (Eckstein, 2017). Kingfish The Kingfish is an autonomous UMV will detect and classify buried mines and mines in high-clutter environments. On advantage of the Kingfish, that a majority of other UMV does not provide,...

This week in class we discussed issues when operating drones in the public. Key topics included legal issues, ethical issues and technical issues addressed specifically for the following scenario: You have finished your degree and are now a consultant for Acme Airborne Analysis Group. Your company has been asked to assess the impacts of using a quadrotor UAS to support We Sell Anything real estate’s marketing campaign for local lakefront property (high definition imagery). What are the legal, ethical, and technical challenges that you will face in trying to make this happen? Can it happen? Why/why not?   Legal As per the FAA, the following is a list of items to take note of and abide by when flying a UAV. • Operators must be 16 yrs. or older • Fly at or below 400 feet and stay away from surrounding obstacles • Keep your UAS within sight • Never fly near other aircraft, especially near airports • Never fly over groups of people • Never fly over stadiums or sports events ...

This week in class I was tasked to research different types of underwater unmanned maritime vehicles, and come up with a viable solution for dealing with the following scenario. The CS JUSSANK , has sunk in Lake Superior and is believed to be sitting at a depth of at least 2,500 feet underwater. The crew has been rescued, but there is cargo on board that needs to be recovered and is potentially dangerous if left unattended. Along with the copper cable being transported, there is radioactive material stored in small waterproof crates deep within the hull. The exact position of the wreck itself is unknown, but it lies within a 90-square mile quadrant. We must determine what type of UMV is to be used for the search and recovery operation. Location, Limits, and Timeframe    For this mission application, I chose to go with the Remotely Operated Vehicle ( ROV ) “SuBastian” by Schmidt Ocean Institute. The SuBastian can switch between ROV and AUV mode....

For years the military and law enforcement have utilized Unmanned Ground Vehicles UGV to carry out missions. One such mission is Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) carried out by the United States Army. Following the model of the famous home robot the Roomba, the U.S. Army implemented a robot called the PackBot 510. The PackBot comes from a family of robots that are designed to cover a broad spectrum of operations, from cave crawling to urban reconnaissance and everything in between (Springer, 2013). The PackBot 510 is a ground-based system specifically designed to operate in areas that present high levels of risk for human operators (Buchanan, 2013). iRobot’s advertising indicates that the PackBot can be used to reconnoiter caves that are potentially occupied by an enemy force; clear routes and roads that may be a target for EODs or other hazards; operate in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) environments that may be lethal to humans; and examine and manipulate ex...